Northern Elders Forum condemns Yobe massacre

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) condemned yesterday the killing of 43 pupils by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members in Yobe State.

The Deputy National Leader of the group, Chief Paul Unongo, who spoke with reporters at a news conference in Abuja, described the suspension of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, as politically-motivated.

He said NEF sympathised with the Federal Government on the Yobe massacre and urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to rely on force alone in his efforts to tackle terrorism.

Unongo noted that Boko Haram is being fuelled by political and religious considerations.

He enjoined government to enter into a dialogue with the insurgents, adding that security agencies should be strengthened to enable them carry out their functions effectively.

Said Unongo: “The Northern Elders Forum condemns the killing of innocent children in their sleep by the Boko Haram.

“We need a creative approach and a combination of approaches, some of which we have suggested to the President, to solve this problem.

“We have told the President that force alone cannot solve this problem. He has to look for other ways to enter into a dialogue with these people. Boko Haram is not a religious issue but an act of terrorism, which has assumed a life of its own.

“If it were about Islam, why do they kill Muslims and blow up mosques? We beg him not to fall prey to the Nigerian system of pacifying things because we have political and religious Boko Haram in the country.

“Now that the insurgency is expanding, we need to rethink and re-strategise to overcome the problem. We need to revisit the holistic approach we gave Mr. President. The allegation that we are supporting Boko Haram is nonsense.”

He said it is the view of the forum that the suspension of Sanusi was done in bad faith.

Unongo insisted that Sanusi was merely carrying out the duties for which he was paid by tax payers.

He said: “In our judgement, we feel that the CBN Governor has a right to be concerned even if the missing funds were due to financial impropriety or outright fraud. It is his duty to show concern and cry out to his boss to investigate the matter.

“All the pretensions about his suspension were politically-motivated because he was simply doing his job.”

On the National Conference, Unongo said although the NEF had canvassed a Sovereign National Conference, it did not oppose the dialogue, but the timing was too near the 2015 elections.

Added he: “We suggested that it should be shifted, but this was ignored and it is continuing in a very strange manner without anybody telling Nigerians what the intention of the conference is about.

“The President has selected his friends, who in turn enrolled their friends to partake in the dialogue and our question is: What are they going to discuss?

“Of all the constitution drafting exercises and conferences I have participated in, none was carried out within three months. How do you think you can find solution to the problems of Nigeria in three months?

“How can Nigerians be treated like this? If we talk they will say we are not cooperating. These people have not been chosen to represent Nigerians but the government and President Jonathan.”